The Price of Power
by Kamari Turen
Summary: Based on the webcomic FreakAngels by Warren Ellis. The lives of the FreakAngels are changed forever when Arkady discovers the existance of a thirteenth psycic, one hell bent on destroying what's left of the world.
1. Welcome to Whitechapel

Twenty three years ago, twelve strange children were born in England at exactly the same moment. These children would come to be know as the FreakAngels and six years ago, they inadvertently ended the world. This was, of course, not their intention but people with abilities like theirs tend to underestimate the extent of their power. Regardless of what happened six years ago, the twelve have, to some extent, made up for their mistake by taking the Whitechapel district of London under their personal protection. This act, by their estimation, is the most effective way of salving some of their guilt over what has happened in the wake of their actions.

Now, it is of immense importance to keep in mind, that though these twelve individuals were born at the same moment, they are not related. They come from twelve separate families, and are bound only by the powers they posses. Well, that and their similarity in appearance, as they all have pale skin and violet eyes, a product of what they refer to as the "FreakAngels Package". Despite these bonds, the FreakAngels are a diverse group, with each possessing their own unique abilities that set them apart from the others. Twenty three years of living together have allowed the twelve to bring these gifts together and rebuild a world they destroyed, so without further ado I present the FreakAngels, in all their unwanted glory.

K.K., the mechanic of the group, who's full name is Kolfinnia Kokokoho Titching, but only call her that if you wish to have the shit kicked out of you. K.K. is, by default, the leader of the gang, or at least co-leader. She is a master of machines and steam technology and is quite fond of both alcohol and sex, regardless of the combination.

Connor, the groups recorder, who keeps track of everything that happens in their lives. Basically, he's a glorified historian, but there's more to Connor than just remembering. He is a kind soul, one of the few FreakAngels who can make that claim with a straight face, who prefers to take a non-violent approach to life. This attitude has earned him the title of "adopter of waifs and strays" from the others, a title he doesn't seem to mind much.

Mark, the groups other leader, who was nearly kicked out for attempting mass mind control of the residents of Whitechapel. Fortunately, the others were able to convince him that this was a bad idea, and they were spared the pain of ending his life. Mark is a serious man, who believes that the FreakAngels should use their abilities to help others.

Arkady, the groups neuronaut, who spends much of her time pushing the limits of the package. A bit spacey at times, Arkady is, in truth, one of if not the most advanced of the twelve in terms of her access to the package. This is due, in part, to an overdose she experienced when they were fifteen, which opened up mental avenues to the package the others do not yet posses.

Caz, the groups engineer, who's real name is Carolyn, though only Arkady still calls her this. Caz's primary interest in life is building things, and nearly all of the work parts of Whitechapel are her doing. A genius when it comes to machines, Caz is always looking for ways to improve the quality of life of the people she and the others have taken under their protection.

Kirk, the watchman, who spends the majority of his time up on the watchtower which stands above the Christ Church. Kirk is, by Connor's estimation, everyone's big brother, constantly on lookout for threats to the safety of the community. He can be a bit gruff at times, but is for the most part, a genuinely nice person who has the well being of everyone in mind.

Karl, the groups gardener, who prefers to be left alone. The only people Karl associates with on a regular basis are Kirk and Arkady, and even then it's usually only when he wants to discuss something. To keep himself sheltered from the others, Karl wears a tinfoil hat, which effectively blocks out the mental signals the others broadcast. His garden is located above the Ten Bells Pub in Shoreditch.

Sirkka, the mind, body and soul of the group, who is interested in reinventing the human relationship. In a way, Sirkka is the spiritual leader of the group, if they had a need for one. She maintains a harem and receives a small amount of disgust from the others at the way she freely gives her love. Sirkka sees no problem with her actions, however, and is quite content with her life, though there is one person she would prefer to be with.

Jack, the groups salvager, who has a tenuous relationship with Sirkka, due to his dislike of her promiscuity. Because of this, Jack spends much of his time on his boat, searching flooded London for supplies the community can use. Still, he loves Sirkka and hopes for a day when the two of them can overcome their differences of opinion. Until that time, Jack keeps his distance and allows Sirkka to live the life she wants to live.

Miki, the groups doctor, who's real talent, according to Connor, is telling people off. An expert in medicine, despite the fact that she has no formal training, Miki maintains a small clinic in Whitechapel and is dedicated to keeping the people healthy. She is, in many ways, the big sister of the gang, keeping everyone in line, or at least attempting to keep everyone in line. She finds this feat difficult at times, due to her inability to get the others to listen to her, but that doesn't stop her from trying anyway.

Kait, the unofficial constable of Whitechapel, who maintains law and order on the ground. She serves a similar purpose to Kirk, and she takes her job seriously. So seriously, in fact that the others have questioned her sanity at times. Kait gained the majority of her crime fighting knowledge from overdosing on crime shows when the twelve were kids, and she sees herself as the best line of defense Whitechapel possesses.

Finally Luke, the groups intellectual powerhouse, who is now somewhat of a pariah, due to his incessant sex drive and his belief that they are the pinnacle of evolution. Luke believes that the FreakAngels are meant to live greater lives than they do now and tries at every available opportunity to convince the others of this, though he has had little success in convincing them. Because of this, Luke feels a bit isolated from the others and has a fuck the world attitude.

So now that we have met the twelve, we can move forward. Six years ago the world ended and the FreakAngels were left do pick up the pieces. This is the story of what happened next. Welcome to Whitechapel, enter if you dare.


	2. Pushing the Limits

Arkady awoke in a haze, her head spinning as she sat up. She glanced around trying to figure out where she was and what she had been doing. After a few moments, she concluded that she was somewhere in Whitechapel, but her exact location was still a mystery. Also, she could still not figure out what she had been doing before she fell asleep, if she had indeed fallen asleep. She couldn't remember doing that either. Arkady shook her head before getting to her feet, wobbling a bit from an unbalanced equilibrium. So, that's what she had been doing. Drinking always made her forget things, especially since drinking was usually paired with pushing the limits of the package. She glanced at the empty bottle of vodka that lay a few feet from her and then teleported out.

She arrived at the Freakcave a split second later, finding, much to her disgruntlement, that the place was empty. Sitting down inside one of the large bells that littered the place, Arkady ran her hand over her bald scalp, trying to remember exactly what she had been doing with the package last night. Still, try as she could, the memories continued to elude her. Sighing she glanced around the Freakcave wondering where the others were. It occurred to her then that this building was the perfect place for them to meet, something that had never occurred to her before. The building had once been the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, and was one of the most fortified buildings in Whitechapel. But it wasn't much fun without the others there.

"Where is everybody?" Arkady asked, knowing the others would hear her.

_"We're over at the watchtower Arkady."_ Karl's voice answered. Arkady smiled and teleported again, popping up right next to Karl.

"Ah, God Kady, warn us before you just pop in like that." said Caz, staring at Arkady with wide eyes.

"Sorry." said Arkady. "I forgot the rest of you still can't do that unless you're with me."

"Yeah." Kirk muttered. "Where were you this morning anyway?"

"I don't know actually." Arkady replied. "I woke up on the roof of some building with an empty bottle of vodka and that's all I know."

"So you were pushing the limits again last night, I'm assuming?" Miki asked. "You know what I've told you about doing that."

"I guess I was, though I don't recall what I was trying to see." Arkady replied.

"Well whatever it was, you really should stop doing that." said Miki. "It plays hell with your nervous system and I'm worried you'll permanently fuck yourself up if you don't stop."

The others glanced at her. "What?" Miki asked, staring back at them.

"Well, technically speaking, and I'm not trying to be an arsehole here, but Arkady is already permanently fucked up." said Luke, looking from Arkady to Miki.

"It's true, overdose experiences will do that to a person." said Arkady, with a smile. "So why are we gathered at the base of the watchtower?"

"Waiting for Alice to get down here so we can head over to the Freakcave." Kirk replied. "She's taking a bloody long time." Arkady smiled and teleported up to the top of the watchtower.

"Ah!" Alice's scream echoed around the otherwise silent town. A second later Arkady and Alice were back on the ground. "For fook's sake Arkady, you know I don't like it when you do that." Alice practically screamed.

The others chuckled, drawing a glare from Alice. The blond haired Manchester girl was about as different from the FreakAngels as it was possible to be. For one thing she possessed no psychic powers. For another, she had only know the others for a couple of weeks, having stumbled into Whitechapel half dead two weeks earlier. After Miki had patched her up, they had learned her story, namely how her gun running brothers had been killed leaving her with no one to care for and no place to live. Taking pity upon her, they had decided to let her stay and had appointed her second watch and made her an honorary FreakAngel. Though she was glad to have a place to live, Alice was still getting used to living with twelve psychics.

"Har har, laugh it up yer fooking arseholes." Alice snapped. "That's a great bloody joke, having Arkady teleport the girl without psychic powers. Nice."

"Come on Alice, you know we weren't trying to fuck with you." said Connor, trying his best not to grin. "You were just taking a long time and Arkady decided to speed things up."

Alice glared at him and then smiled. "Alright, I'm sorry for snapping."

"That's alright." said Kirk. "What were you doing up there anyway? You weren't touching my stuff were you?"

"No, I wasn't bloody touching your stuff." Alice snapped. "Why is it you think everybody messes with yer stuff?"

"Kirk's just paranoid." said KK with a grin. She glanced at Kirk, who glared at her.

"Let's get going." said Connor, before Kirk and KK could start a fight. The others nodded and they headed off to the Freakcave.

Later that day, Arkady sat atop one of the buildings of Whitechapel, trying to remember what she had been trying to see the night before. Her inability to remember was starting to piss her off and she was about to snap from the frustration. At that moment, however, something flashed in her mind, a vaguely human shape that seemed to be giving off the same mental energy as the FreakAngels. But, that was absurd, they were the only ones. If another person like them existed, they would have sensed it before now. Unless this mysterious person had a way of shielding them self from detection. One way or another, Arkady was determined to find out.

**A/N: Again, as with my other fics I realize this should have come in chapter 1, but I forgot. I do not own FreakAngels, it is the property of Warren Ellis and Avatar Press. I'm just messing with the characters. It should be noted that this fic is AU, which explains why Mark is still with the group and Luke hasn't been killed. Also, if you want to read the actual story go to the freakangels website and check it out.**


	3. Discovery

Arkady's search lasted late into the night before she was finally interrupted by KK and Caz. At first, Arkady was only vaguely aware of their presence, but as she came back to reality her awareness became much more acute. "Hello." she muttered, still not completely aware of her surroundings.

"Hello Arkady." said Caz. "You've been up here a long time, what are you up to?"

"Trying to find him." Arkady answered, not looking at the other two.

"Him?" KK asked. "Who's 'him'?" She glanced at Arkady, concern in her eyes. It was like Arkady to spit out cryptic messages, but she had never mentioned seeing people in her mental travels before. KK glanced at Caz and then back at Arkady. "Who are you talking about Kady?"

"The man in-" Arkady paused and looked at KK. "Nobody." she continued. Arkady was still not certain of what she had seen and she did not want to raise a false alarm.

"Kady, you just told me and KK you saw someone, are you sure there's nothing you want to tell us?" Caz asked, concern in her eyes as well.

"Nope. Nothing." Arkady replied, and with that she teleported out before they could ask her any more questions.

"Fucksticks!" KK shouted. "So much for finding out what she saw."

"You really think she saw something?" Caz asked, as they headed back to her place for drinks. She glanced at KK, who was muttering something under her breath.

"Well, it is Arkady." KK replied. "She can do stuff with the package the rest of us haven't even dreamed about, so I think it's possible she saw something."

"You want to bring the others in on this?" Caz asked, with another glance.

"Yeah, might as well." KK muttered. "Mass call, this is KK. Everyone meet at Caz's place, we have something we need to discuss." They arrived at Caz's place to find everyone except Alice and Arkady waiting for them.

"I was in the middle of something important, so this better be good." Kait muttered.

"What did you want to discuss?" Jack asked, looking at KK.

"Well Caz and I just found Arkady doing her mind bend thing again, for starters." KK replied, looking at the others.

"So, she does that all the time, I don't see what the problem is." said Mark, with a dark look. Luke, Karl, and Kirk nodded, seeming to agree with him.

"The problem, Mark, is what she says she saw." KK replied, glaring at him.

"What she saw?" Luke asked. "KK, what the bloody hell are you on about?"

"Arkady says she saw someone." KK repeated. "God, don't any of you know what she's doing when she does this? She's pulling out, seeing the bigger picture like we did when, you know."

"Again, I don't see what the problem is." said Mark. "I mean, she's not harming anyone is she, so what's the fucking problem?"

"Did you not here KK say Arkady saw someone?" Miki asked. "And incidentally, she is harming someone, herself. The more she pushes the limits of the package, the more of a strain she puts on her nervous system."

"Oh God Miki, don't start with that bullshit again." Luke snapped. "If we don't push the limits, than what's the bloody point of having these fucking abilities in the first fucking place?"

"Oh shut up Luke." Sirkka snapped. "Stop acting like you're so much better than everyone, you arrogant prick."

"Look, could we get back to the matter at hand?" said Connor. He looked at KK before continuing. "You say Arkady said she saw someone, did she say what this someone looks like?"

"No." KK replied. "We asked what she was doing and she said she was looking for 'him', whoever he is, but when we tried to get her to tell us more, she went silent on us."

"Did you try reading her mind?" Kait asked, looking from KK to Caz and back again.

"Well no, but-" Caz began, but Luke cut her off.

"Than how can you be sure she was even telling the truth?" he asked.

"I hate to agree with Luke, but he's kinda got a good point there." said Kirk. "I mean, this is Arkady we're talking about. Nothing against her, I love her to death, but she is kinda mental."

"Well, as I was going to say before you fuckers interrupted me," said Caz, "was, maybe the reason we didn't read her mind is because it wouldn't have worked. She seemed unsure herself about what she was saying."

"So why the fuck are we here than?" Luke asked. "If Arkady isn't even sure of what she saw than why in seven bloody hells are you two so worked up?"

"Well, maybe because it seems like a valid thing to get worked up about to us, you bleeding wanker." KK snapped.

"I don't know KK." said Karl. "I don't think we should get worked up until we have actual proof Arkady saw something." The others nodded in agreement, though Sirkka, Miki, and Connor seemed to do so reluctantly.

"Fine." KK spat. "We'll just sit on our arses and do nothing, but don't expect me to come help any of you if it turns out Arkady is right. You can just tuck your heads between your legs and kiss your fucking asses goodbye." With that, she turned and stormed off, leaving the others for the safety of her shop.

Hours later, Arkady lay in her bed, sleep having finally taken her. However her mind continued to wander in search of her elusive mystery man. She wandered the edges of Whitechapel, but still no luck. Unconsciously, she adjusted the search, pulling wide to see the surrounding area once again. And then, in the shadows of Shoreditch Park she found him, a man with long greasy hair and a scar over one eye. For a moment, she stood and stared at him, too scared to move and then he turned, his violet eyes lighting up as he did and Arkady felt herself lift off the ground.

"NOOOOOOOOOO-" she screamed, before her voice cut off. A second later she snapped awake in her bed drenched in sweat, her scream echoing in the minds of the others.

**A/N: Okay, for those who are still unsure about this story, here's a few helpers. First off, the FreakAngels can communicate telepathically, but it works kinda like a wireless radio or something to that effect. Also all of them have violet eyes, it's part of the package, and they can sense what the others are doing. If you still have questions, read the damned comic.**


	4. We Are Not Alone

"Arkady?" Karl asked, as he, Caz, Kirk, Sirkka, and Jack approached her house. "Arkady are you alright? What happened?" Arkady did not respond. "Damn it Arkady I know you can hear me, what the fuck happened?"

"No use mate." said Kirk. "Whatever happened seems to have limited her ability to answer. We're just gonna have to go in there and find out."

"You don't think-?" Sirkka began, but Kirk silenced her.

"No Sirkka, I don't think anything bad has happened to her, so don't even start with that." he muttered, as they entered Arkady's building. They found Arkady curled up in a ball on the floor, shaking violently.

"Oh God, Arkady." Sirkka cried, moving to comfort her. "It's okay, Kady, it's okay." She took Arkady in her arms, holding her as a mother would hold her child.

"Arkady, what happened in here?" Kirk asked, fixing her with a serious stare.

"Jesus Kirk, give her a bloody minute, would you?" Caz snapped. "She's just experienced some sort of trauma and here you are interrogating her like she's a fucking criminal."

"Sorry." Kirk muttered, backing away. He glanced at Karl and Jack, who both shrugged.

"Kady?" Sirkka asked after a moment. "Kady is there anything you'd like to tell us?"

Arkady looked at her a moment before nodding. "But I need everyone to be here." she whispered, still visibly shaken by what she had seen.

"Okay, I'll get the others." said Caz. "KK, you got ears on?"

_"Yeah." _KK replied. _"Is Arkady alright?"_

"I think so." Caz replied. "Are the others with you?"

_"Everyone but Alice and who's with you." _KK responded.

"Okay, go get Alice off the tower and then head over here, we have something everyone may need to hear." said Caz.

_"Oh bloody hell, what the fuck did she see this time?" _Luke cut in.

"Stuff it Luke." Kirk snapped. "We don't know yet what she saw, she won't tell us until everyone is here. So shut the fuck up and get your arses over here." Luke sighed, but did not argue further, sensing he wasn't going to win this one. Moments later, he, KK, Connor, Miki, Mark, Kait, and Alice arrived at Arkady's house.

"Okay, we're here, what's the problem?" Luke asked, walking into the room.

Sirkka glared at him and turned to Arkady. "Okay Kady, we're all here, what did you see?"

Arkady looked around the room, her gaze pausing on each of them for a second before moving on. Finally her gaze came to a stop on Alice and she sighed. "I saw him again." she said. "The man I told you about earlier, only this time I got a clearer picture of him. He has greasy hair and a scar over his right eye and he's like us."

The room was dead silent following Arkady's speech, the others as dumbfounded by this revelation as they were when they found out Arkady could teleport. Arkady's words made no sense, there was no way there could be another FreakAngel, but Arkady had never been wrong before.

"What?" Karl asked, bringing the others out of their dumbfounded reverie. "Arkady are you sure that's what you saw?"

"Of course." Arkady replied. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, maybe because you're mental." said Luke, looking around the room. "If there was another individual with our abilities we would already know, because they would bloody be one of us."

"So you're saying Arkady is wrong?" Miki asked, casting an angry look at Luke.

"Well yeah, I am." Luke responded, not the least bit fearful of Miki's anger. "Why should we believe that there's another one of us out there? You all know that if there was, we would have sensed him by now."

"Not necessarily." said Kait. "I mean, I'm not convinced Arkady is right yet either, but there would be ways for another individual with our abilities to go undetected."

"Yeah, but we would have sensed them at birth, we did that with each other." said Mark. "Why would we have been unable to sense this one?"

"Who knows." said Connor. "I mean here we are at twenty three and we still don't know the parameters of the package are, maybe this thirteenth individual has a better grasp than we do."

"So what, he's some kind of super FreakAngel?" Kirk asked. "Because that doesn't sound like something I want to meet."

"Is it really correct to call him a FreakAngel?" Caz asked, glancing around the room.

"Oh come on, will you idiots stop acting like this man is real." Luke shouted. "He's not real, okay. He's a figment of Arkady's broken imagination, nothing else. He. Is. Not. Fucking. Real."

"Well I fer one think he is real." said Alice. "I trust Arkady's judgment on this. She's never lied to you before and I see no reason why she would start now."

"Shut up new girl." Luke muttered. "You don't know what you're talking about and your not one of us so your opinion doesn't really matter here."

"Oh yeah, yer fooking wanker?" Alice asked. "You wanna say that to the end of me fooking shotgun?"

"I'd welcome that challenge actually." said Luke staring into Alice's eyes, a smirk on his face. "I'd have that shotgun dismantled and your brain pureed before you could even figure out what was going on. Don't fuck with me Alice, I'm a god compared to you."

"Yeah, you think so?" Alice snapped. "How bout I blow yer fooking head off and then we'll see who the god is."

"I would love to see try." Luke mocked, his smirk getting bigger.

"Luke, you're on thin ice mate." Kirk warned, but Luke ignored him. He moved towards Alice, his eyes beginning to glow, but Kirk stepped in front of her. "Luke I'm warning you man." Kirk growled, placing his hand on Luke's chest.

"Oh and what are you planning on doing Kirk?" Luke asked, shifting his focus to the watchman. "You know I could kick your ass."

"Yeah, you think you could Luke?" Kirk asked. "Let's see you do it then."

Luke stared at Kirk a second, and then, without warning lashed out with a massive burst of mental energy. Kirk shoved Alice out of the way, and Mark and Jack grabbed Luke, pulling him back. Luke shrugged them off and lunged at Alice, the others closing rank around her, Jack aiming his gun at Luke's head as they did.

"ENOUGH!" Arkady shouted, making them all freeze. Jack looked at her, his eyes wide in surprise. The others wore similar looks, it was not like Arkady to lash out like that. "We are not here to fight each other." Arkady shouted. "Now shut up and pay attention."

The others felt the slight pressure of her entering their minds and a second later they saw what she had seen in her vision.

"Oh shit, she actually saw him." Kait breathed a second later. The others looked at her and then at Arkady, horror on all their faces. Arkady had been right, there was another person like them and he was not looking to be friends.

As they stood there staring at one another, Karl whispered the words they were all thinking, "We are not alone."


	5. Unlucky Thirteen

The revelation that there was another person with abilities like theirs came as an immense shock to the FreakAngels, putting them all on edge. There were many questions that needed to be answered, first and foremost how this individual had gone undetected for so long. It seemed impossible that he could evade detection for so long, but then again, this was not a normal situation. There was also the need to know just how great his control of the Package was, as this would determine how best to combat him, if and when that day came. Arkady, in her brief glimpses of the man, had detected a massive output of psychic energy from his brain, but she was unsure what that meant. Finally there was the need to find out exactly who this man was and what he wanted. According to Arkady's visions, he did not seem friendly, but there was no way of knowing what his motives were until they met.

"Well I fer one think we should do everything we can to avoid this bastard." said Alice, the day after Arkady had revealed the truth.

"I'm inclined to agree with you Alice, but that may be easier said than done." said Caz. "I mean, we don't even know what this guy wants or how powerful he is. For all we know he could be looking to form an alliance."

Alice gave her a skeptical look. "You don't really believe that, do ye?" she asked.

Caz shrugged. "I don't know what I believe anymore." she admitted. "Yesterday there were twelve of us who had these abilities, and now there's thirteen. It's like everything you never expected to happen has since the crash and the entire fucking world is spiraling into chaos."

"It does certainly seem that way." said Connor, walking up to the other two. "How're you two this morning?"

"Not bad considering what we just learned." said Caz, with another shrug. "Where are the others?"

"Kirk's up the tower and KK's off on her bike, but that's all know." Connor replied. "I would assume Sirkka's in getting her shag on, but whether Jack's with her or not I have no idea."

"Kait's probably doing her cop routine, I'd bet." said Alice. "As fer Miki, Karl, an' Arkady, I got no ideas on that. An' I don' wanna know what shite Luke an' Mark are up to. Probably trying to figure out how contact the bastard or summat."

"You give them too little credit you know." said Caz, with a glance at Alice.

"Too little credit fer what? Being arseholes, cuz I give 'em plenty of credit fer that." said Alice, looking from Caz to Connor, who was grinning. "What're you grinning at?" Alice asked.

"I think what Caz meant, was Luke and Mark have a lot to offer in the way of leadership and intellectual insight." said Connor. "You just have to look past their shitty attitudes and see them for what they are, two men who want to make a change in the world, but just haven't quite figured out how yet." He looked at Alice, awaiting her reaction.

"Yer always looking at the bright side of everything, aren't ye?" Alice asked. Connor shrugged. It was true, he try to see the good in all people, regardless of what they had done.

"I don't know if I can trust Luke again, after yesterday." Alice continued. "I wasn't really appreciative of the way the wanker acted, you know?"

"Yeah, I'll give you that." said Connor. "Luke was out of line with that, and hopefully he understands that behavior like that won't be tolerated again." Alice nodded, still not convinced. "Look, I'm not asking you to suddenly befriend them." Connor continued. "Just consider it, okay?"

"Alright, but I'm telling ye, it ain't gonna work." said Alice, as she turned to leave. Connor watched her as she left and then he and Caz made their way to the Freakcave to begin preparing for lunch.

A short time later, Alice made her way to the watchtower, still mulling things over in her mind. She knew that Connor was right, on some level Luke and Mark were good people, but she was still not convinced she could trust them, especially Luke. However, it was not her problems with the two of them that was really bothering her. The knowledge that there was another person like the FreakAngels out there was particularly troubling for Alice, as she had just gotten used to the idea of there being twelve psychics and now she had to process the knowledge of another. Unfortunately, Alice had no idea how to go about breaking this to the others without making herself look like a bitch. Still, she had to tell someone, and Kirk was just as good a listener as anyone.

Alice made her way up the ropes she had installed on the watchtower. She absolutely refused to use Kirk's system of ladders and had installed the ropes to make it easier for her to get up the tower, much to Kirk's annoyance. She arrived at the top of the tower to find Kirk in the presence of others. Arkady and Karl stood on either side of him, all of them watching Alice as she climbed through the opening in the tower platform.

"Alice, what are you doing up here?" Kirk asked, giving her a confused look.

"What, I can't come up here just to talk, even when it's not my shift?" Alice asked, casting a dark look at Kirk.

"No, that's fine." Kirk replied. "I was just wondering why you'd want to come talk to me."

"I was over here anyway, so I figured I might as well." Alice replied.

"Oh." said Kirk. "Do you want Karl and Arkady to leave?" Alice shook her head. Truth be told, the more people she had to hear what she had to say, the better. She stared out at the flooded expanse of London, silent for a moment.

"Something on your mind Alice?" Karl asked, noticing her depressed look.

"Yeah, actually." she replied, looking at the other three. "I was just thinking, there's always been twelve of you FreakAngels and now, suddenly there's thirteen. It just strikes me as a little odd. Thirteen has to mean something, ye know what I'm sayin'?"

"Uh, sorry you lost me there for a minute." said Kirk. "Are you suggesting that something bad is going to happen because there's now thirteen of us?"

"Well yeah." said Alice. "Thirteen is an unlucky number, a bad omen if ye will."

"So, you're saying that because there's now thirteen FreakAngels, we're gonna experience a rash of bad luck?" Karl asked, looking at her skeptically.

"Yeah, I just bloody said that." Alice snapped, irritated by their apparent lack of ability to grasp a fairly simple concept. Karl stared at her for a second before he and Kirk burst out laughing. Alice glared at them. "And just what, you pair of stupid bleeders, is so fooking funny?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry, you were being serious?" asked Karl, clutching his side.

"Of course she was being serious." said Arkady. "It actually makes sense when you think about it. The number thirteen is considered unlucky and if my visions of our mystery man are any indication, than I think Alice may be on to something."

"Well, when you put it that way, I guess it does make sense." said Karl, looking from Arkady to Alice. "Sorry." he muttered.

"Yeah, whatever." Alice snapped. "Ye say that now, but are you really sorry yer fooking arsehole." Karl didn't answer.

"Well, okay I think we should take this theory to the others, see what they think." said Arkady. Alice nodded and Arkady turned to face the city. "Mass call, this is Arkady. Everyone meet at the Freakcave, Alice has an interesting theory we should discuss. It could lead to answers about our mysterious new FreakAngel."


	6. Paradox

A short time later the entire gang found themselves in the Freakcave, debating the merits of Alice's number thirteen theory. At first the others had had much the same reaction as Karl and Kirk, but after listening to Alice and Arkady explain the logic, most of them were beginning to agree. "Well, it certainly seems like a sound theory, but I do have one question." said Luke, looking at Alice.

"Of course you do." Alice muttered, rolling her eyes.

Luke ignored her and continued. "It seems to me that if this theory is to work, there would have to be some indication that our mystery man is actually a threat, yeah?"

"Technically Luke, you're right, but just because we don't have proof doesn't mean he isn't a potential threat." said Kait.

"Okay, I'll give you that." said Luke. "But, and bare with me on this, wouldn't it make more sense to meet this man before we pass judgment on him? I mean okay, he could be a threat, but he could also be a potential ally and it's not really our bloody place to judge."

"Says the man who called himself a fooking god just yesterday." Alice muttered. Luke glared at her, but made no move to challenge her assessment. It was obvious he did not want a repeat of the previous day's confrontation.

"So what does this all mean then?" Jack asked. "Are we actually in danger from this man or not, and if we are what the fuck are we gonna do about it?" He looked around the room, but no one seemed to have any ideas.

"It's a paradox." Karl whispered, after several minutes of silence.

"How's that?" Kirk asked, glancing at Karl.

"It's a paradox." Karl repeated. "A contradiction." He looked at Kirk, who cocked an eyebrow in speculation.

"I know what a bloody paradox is, you twat." Kirk snapped. "What I was asking is what exactly do you mean?"

"Well, it seems to me that there's something contradictory about this whole situation." Karl replied. "Here we have the twelve of us, who have been together almost since birth and now we have this other bastard, who has the same abilities we do and yet we are just now learning he exists. It makes no sense and it goes against everything we know about ourselves and the Package. This man is a living, breathing contradiction, a paradox in the flesh. Our entire lives we lived with the belief that we were the only ones and now everything has been turned upside down."

"So, you're saying that, what, we're not normal or something?" KK asked.

"No, I'm not." Karl replied. "We already know we're not normal as far as the rest of the world is concerned. What I'm saying is the sudden appearance of this man contradicts what we had previously believed, that we were the only twelve people in the world who had these abilities. In other words, the logic with which we had operated is no longer sound and the possibility of very bad things happening becomes very real."

"When you say bad, what exactly do you mean?" Connor asked. "Are you talking worse than what we did, or what?"

"The possibility for devastation beyond what we were able to create does exist I would think." Karl answered. "We have to assume that if we are just now finding about this man, than his control over the package is much greater than our own. It seems he has possessed the ability to shield his mind since birth, something that only Mark and Kait can do effectively and they only learned how a few years ago."

"There's a terrifying prospect." Miki muttered. "It's creepy enough when Mark and Kait do it. To think that there's someone who's been doing it their entire life sends chills down the spine."

"I agree." said Sirkka. "And if he's been shielding himself from us this whole time, than whatever he has planned is most likely unpleasant."

"Terrific." Conner muttered. "So we have a mystery man who shares our abilities, only his grasp of them is much stronger than our own and he wants to kill us all, is that about right?"

"Yeah, except we don't know for sure if any of it's true." said KK.

No sooner had these words escaped KK's lips when Arkady fell to the floor, clutching her head in pain. For a second the others were to shocked to move and then Arkady began twitching violently, her eyes rolling in her head.

"Oh God, Arkady!" Sirkka cried, rushing to Arkady's side. Alice and Caz joined her, though there wasn't much any of them could do to help.

"Miki do something for God's sake!" KK shouted. Miki stared at KK, unsure what she should do, she had never had to deal with something like this before, and she wasn't exactly a qualified doctor to begin with.

"Miki, don't just stand there like an idiot." Kait shouted, grabbing Miki and hauling her towards the stairs. They headed to Miki's clinic, returning a minutes later with all the medical supplies they could carry. By this time, Arkady had contorted into a fetal position and blood was streaming from her nose.

"Miki, please, help her." Sirkka begged, tears in her eyes. The others stood in a half circle around them, watching one of their number die. Miki knelt next to Arkady, and rolled her onto her back. Arkady's eyes were glazed over and she was unaware of what was happening around her. As Miki moved to help, Arkady's spine arched and she let out the most horrible scream any of them had ever heard, followed by a choking gasp as her heart stopped. Miki grabbed a syringe of pure adrenaline, ramming the needle into Arkady's heart. Arkady gave one last jolt and then went still, her eyes going blank.

"Miki?" Sirkka asked, glancing at the doctor. "Miki is she-?"

"She's dead." Miki whispered, staring at Arkady's motionless form with wide, horrified eyes, tears running down her cheeks.

"No, Miki, no." Sirkka begged, looking from Miki to Arkady. "She's not dead, she can't be dead. Please, tell me she's not dead." Miki looked at Sirkka, Sirkka reading the truth in her eyes, Arkady was gone. Sirkka burst into full on tears, while the others simply continued to stare at Arkady, too numb with shock to cry.

"Too many times." Miki muttered. "She pushed the limit too many times and I told her I would always be there to help her recover from it. My fault, all my fault, should have done more to help her."

"No Miki, you can't blame yourself." said Caz. "You tried, you did, it-" Caz's sentence was cut short by a sudden gasp, that made them all jump. Caz spun to find Arkady in a half sitting position, coughing as she tried to catch her breath.

"Oh my God, Arkady!" Miki cried. "You're alive!"

"Adrenaline got there fast enough." Arkady gasped. Miki moved to check her out but Arkady pushed her aside. "No time, saw him, he's coming here." Arkady gasped.

The others stared at her, looks of horror on all their faces, the thing they feared most was about to come true, the thirteenth was coming to Whitechapel.


	7. All Along the Watchtower

An hour after Arkady's most recent vision, the FreakAngels were hard at work preparing for the imminent arrival of the greatest threat to the security of Whitechapel they had yet faced. They were still shaken by Arkady's brush with death, and although Miki had discovered nothing wrong with her, the others remained worried. Miki had discovered the cause of Arkady's near death experience however, though it was not what the others had been hoping for. It seemed their mystery man had invaded Arkady's mind and forced her to experience the vision, rather than her coming to it on her own terms, though the reasons why remained unclear. Arkady assured them she was fine and they had begun defense preparations.

"So, there should be more than one of us up the tower at all times, I'm thinking." said Kirk, looking from the tower to the others.

"I agree." said Kait. "I can patrol down here, but someone up the tower would certainly be helpful and the more sets of eyes, the better."

"Okay, so who's going up with me?" Kirk asked, glancing at the others.

"Well me, obviously." said Alice. "I am second watch after all. But I think we should have a third pair of eyes, y'know? In case somebody wants ter rest their eyes or summat."

"Sounds like a good idea to me." Kirk agreed. "Who did you have in mind?"

Alice grinned and nodded towards Connor, who groaned. Connor hated climbing the tower and it greatly annoyed him when the others made him do it. "Do I have to?" he asked, casting Alice a pleading look.

"Fer fook's sake Connor, it's not that hard to climb up there." said Alice, rolling her eyes at his weak attempt to get out of climbing. Connor sighed, knowing he had already lost this one.

"I can teleport you up there if you want." Arkady offered, with a smile.

"No, I don't think that's a good idea Arkady." said Connor. "You just had a real close call with death and you shouldn't strain yourself at the moment. I'll be fine climbing, as long as Kirk isn't being a prick." Arkady nodded and Kirk cast a dark look at Connor.

"Alright, so let's get up there." said Alice. "Come on move yer arses, no time to waste."

Kirk and Connor glanced at one another and then followed Alice up the tower. Once they were on top Kirk turned to the other two. "Okay, you both know how it works up here so I don't have to waste time explaining shit. But this is different from what we usually deal with so it is of the utmost importance that one of us stays awake at all times and that we maintain constant communication with the ground, particularly Kait since she'll coordinating things down there." Alice and Connor nodded and Kirk turned towards the city. "Mass call, this is Kirk. Everyone got ears on down there?"

_"Reading you loud and clear mate." _said Karl. _"What do you want us to do?"_

"Patrol the edges of town and keep an eye out for anything suspicious." Kirk replied. "I'm going to keep the line open so we'll be in constant contact and I'll tie Alice in as well so she can report on the off chance Connor and I conk out."

_"Any set way you want us to patrol?"_ Kait asked.

"Five teams of two should do it." Kirk replied. "I'll leave it up to you decide on the teams."

_"Sounds good, we'll sound off every hour or so." _said Kait.

"Okay, talk to you in an hour." said Kirk. "We'll let you know if we see anything from up here so you can be ready."

_"Talk to you in an hour." _said KK as she and the others set off to patrol. They paired off in teams of two, KK and Caz, Kait and Miki, Arkady and Karl, Jack and Sirkka, and Mark and Luke. Each team set off in a different direction, all of them keenly aware of what they were looking for. Anything that seemed out of place or otherwise looked as though it didn't belong in Whitechapel was to be regarded as suspicious, regardless of what it was.

Up on the tower Kirk, Alice, and Connor settled into what would most likely be a very long stay up top. It had been an hour and a half since Arkady's vision and there were no signs of the mystery man yet, though that was to be expected as Arkady hadn't seen exactly when he would show up, only that he would. The lack of a concrete timetable had Alice worried as she did not like the feeling of not knowing when the end could come.

"This fooking sucks." she muttered, staring out over the city.

"What sucks?" Connor asked, though he already knew what was bothering her.

"This." Alice replied. "This being stuck up a bloody watchtower, waiting for some fooking nutter with psychic powers to show and kill us all."

"Yeah well, not much we can do about it now." said Connor, shrugging. "Arkady saw him coming and we have to be ready."

"Strange though, innit?" Alice asked. "That she could see that he was coming, but not when he would actually show up."

"Well like Miki said, Arkady wasn't experiencing that vision of her own accord." said Connor. "Our mystery man was in her head, the fucking bastard."

"Why do you think he did that?" Alice asked. "Invade Arkady's head and show her he was coming, I mean?"

"Who the bloody hell knows." Kirk muttered. "Everything about this guy is speculation at the moment. All we know for sure is he seems like a pretty sick fucker. If he's willing to mess with heads of others like him, he's got to be severely damaged."

"Or he's completely sane, and we're the one's who're buggered." said Connor. "Until we meet him we won't know for sure."

"You really think he's gonna somehow be our friend?" Alice asked. Connor shrugged.

"Eternal fucking optimist." Kirk muttered. "You know that not everyone you meet is going to be your friend, right?"

"God Kirk, I had no idea the world was full of shitty people." Connor muttered, rolling his eyes. "Of course I know that, I remember what it was like when we were kids."

"Okay, no need to get pissy you fucking cockmonkey." Kirk muttered.

"Sorry." said Connor. "I just don't like-whoa what the hell was that?" A bright flash of light made Connor freeze. "Did you guys see that?"

"Yeah." Kirk replied as he grabbed his telescope. "Didn't look it came from within Whitechapel."

"What the hell is it?" Alice asked, straining to make out what was causing the light.

"Give me a minute and I'll have an answer." said Kirk, as he aimed the telescope in the direction. What he saw was not what he had been hoping for, a man with long dark hair and a scar over his right eye. "Bugger." Kirk muttered. "It's him."

"Shite." Alice muttered. "Well, so much for a nice evening of relaxing on the tower. I hate this bastard already."

"Everybody heads up." Kirk called. "He's here, shit's about to get heavy."

_"Fuck." _KK muttered, and it was obvious that her sentiment was shared by the others.


	8. An Unwanted Visitor

"Kirk, we're here. Just give us a minute and we'll be up." KK said, moments after Kirk's heads up, as she and Caz arrived at the base of the tower.

_"No, stay down there damn it!"_ Kirk shouted. _"We can't let him get up here, which is exactly what he'll do if we're all up here."_

"Then what the fuck do you want us to do?" KK snapped.

_"Wait for the others and then do everything in your goddamn power to keep him off this bloody tower."_ Kirk replied.

KK sighed, but did not argue further. Now was not the time to bicker with each other, there were more important tasks to focus on. Most important on that list of tasks was keeping the residents of Whitechapel safe, though KK was fairly certain the mystery man was only after her and the other FreakAngels. Still she could not afford any risks. She glanced at Caz who appeared to be deep in thought, most likely trying to figure out a solution to their problem.

"Caz?" KK asked. "Caz what's on your mind?"

"Just trying to answer a couple of questions." Caz replied. "Like how we're gonna keep the people safe."

"I was thinking about that too." said KK. "I don't think they should be in any danger though, if he's only after us."

"Until you realize that striking at the people makes us more vulnerable." said Kait, as she and Miki arrived, followed by Karl and Arkady.

"There's a lovely thought." Karl muttered, glancing at the tower. "Why the hell are they still up there and where the hell is everybody else?"

_"We're still up here because we're keeping a bloody eye out."_ Kirk replied.

"Well that answers one question." said Karl. "But where-?"

_"No need to worry mate."_ said Mark, cutting Karl short as he and Luke arrived.

"Jack, Sirkka, either of you got ears on?" Caz asked.

_"We're on our way."_ Sirkka replied. A moment later she and Jack arrived, both of them winded from all the running.

"Kirk, everyone's in attendance." said KK. "What's your plan?"

_"Good."_ Kirk replied. _"And my plan is-shit brace yourselves down there, he's coming in."_

"Where, Kirk I don't see-FUCKSTICKS!" KK shouted as the mystery man suddenly appeared in a bright flash of light. He looked at them, his violet eyes alight with chaotic joy. His mouth twisted into a crooked grin, almost as if he was fulfilling some sort of sick fantasy.

KK stared back into the eyes of the killer, eyes she had seen her entire life. She could feel the power radiating from him, all of it intended to be the weapon that took her life. She felt the fear rise in her chest as the knowledge that this man was here to kill them hit her. She swallowed hard, pushing the fear back down and looked into his eyes determined to get answers.

"What's your name?" KK asked. The man did not respond. "Look, we know why you're here and what you can do, so why don't you tell us who you are and we can see where we go from there." KK continued.

"My name is Alister Cain and you have no idea what I can do." the man replied, his voice low and raspy. He stared at her a moment longer and then, without warning, he raised his hand reaching back towards the watchtower. His fingers twitched and there was creak. KK's eyes widened in horror as she realized what he was about to do.

"No." she breathed. "No, you bastard, don't you dare."

"And what are you going to do to stop me KK?" Alister asked, before closing his hand into a fist. For a second there was nothing and then a horrible crack split the silence as the foundation of the watchtower gave way.

_"Oh shit!" _Kirk shouted, as he, Connor and Alice lurched forward heading towards the ground.

"Fuck, no!" KK shouted, staring in horror as the tower began to fall. Behind her, the others could only watch, as horrified as she was, all except one. With a quick glance at Karl, Arkady teleported herself into midair, catching Alice as she did. She reached out and caught Connor by his coat, as he reached out for Kirk, failing to grab him.

"No time, gotta go." said Arkady. "I'll catch him on the second try." A second later, she, Connor, and Alice hit the ground before Arkady popped back up to catch Kirk. As she wrapped her arms around him, time seemed to stop for a second and then a bubble of energy opened around the two of them, suspending them in midair.

"What the fuck, where did that come from?" Luke asked, before noticing Alister had his hand raised again. Alister looked at Luke and smiled, and then his hand closed into a fist. The bubble collapsed around Kirk and Arkady and then they disappeared. Alister smiled and then, with another flash of bright light, he disappeared as well.

At that moment, the tower, which seemed to have been falling in slow motion, suddenly gained speed. "Shit, everybody down!" Jack shouted, throwing up a shield as he hit the ground. The others followed suit, Connor pulling Alice inside his shield. Seconds later the tower crashed down upon them with a deafening roar and then everything went silent.

Moments later the dust cleared to reveal the clan, all of them staring at the spot where Arkady and Kirk had been, wondering where they had gone.


	9. A Much Expanded Package

"Well, what the fuck are we supposed to do now?" Luke asked staring at the others as if what had just happened was their fault. They were gathered in the Freakcave to keep from being overheard by the ordinary residents of Whitechapel.

"I don't know Luke." KK replied. "And you can wipe that this is your fault look off your face. None of us wanted that bastard to show up."

"You're right, I'm sorry." said Luke. "It's just, we haven't dealt with something like this since the bloody crash and even then, we had all twelve of us to deal with it. We're down to ten and I'm bloody kicking myself right now for not listening to Arkady more. She was right about Alister and now she and Kirk are gone."

"Don't" Miki cried. "Don't you bloody say shit like that" She cast Luke a dark look.

"Miki, we have to be realistic." said Mark. "We have no way of knowing what Alister did with them or to them, where they are, or anything else for that matter."

"No." Miki said, staring Mark in the face. "I refuse to believe Kirk and Arkady are gone and I refuse to be a part of a group of idiots who give up on their friends just because they can't figure out what the bloody hell happened to them." With that, she turned and stormed out of the Freakcave without a backwards glance.

"Miki wait, I wasn't trying to-" Mark started to call after her, but the look she gave him at the door made him stop.

"Let her go mate." said Connor. "She just needs time to absorb the shock of what just happened to us."

Mark looked at Connor and sighed. "Miki's right, you know." he said after a moment of silence. "We shouldn't just give up on Kirk and Arkady."

"Didn't you just say-?" Connor started to ask, before a look from Mark shut him up.

"I know what just bloody said." Mark muttered. "Doesn't change anything. Miki's right, we can't give up on them, not after all we've been through together."

"Yeah, but here's a thing." said KK. "We don't know where they are and we don't know what Alister may do if we try to find them."

"So we search everywhere we can with only eleven people." said Mark. "He can't have sent them too far, can he?"

"I dunno, he brought down the bloody tower easy enough." said Karl, not looking at the others as he spoke. "Who's to say he didn't send them to fucking Africa or something, because it'll be bloody hard to get there without Arkady."

"So we should just abandon them then?" Mark asked. "Seems like a pretty shitty idea to me Karl. I thought you'd be on board with this, seeing as how you love Arkady and all."

Karl tensed, his eyes going dark. "I told you not to say anything about that, you fucking bastard." he growled through clenched teeth.

"Ah for Christ's sake Karl, it's not a big deal." said Jack. "Besides, the rest of us already know, it's kinda hard to keep those things to yourself when your friends are all psychic."

Karl stared at Jack and then glanced at the others, confirming what Jack had said to be true. "Well that's just bloody spectacular." he snapped.

"Look, I don't mean to interrupt, but can we please get back to the matter at hand?" Connor asked, glancing around the room. "We need to be figuring out a way to find Kirk and Arkady, and stop Alister, not argue over things like love."

"Jesus Connor, when did you become such a cold taskmaster?" Luke asked. Connor glared at him before looking at Mark.

"What's your plan Mark?" he asked, his eyes boring into Mark's.

"I don't know yet." Mark admitted. "It's not like it's going to be easy. Arkady was right about this Alister bloke, he possesses a much expanded package compared to ours. Just teleporting he gives off a discharge of energy unlike anything I've ever seen from any of us, including Arkady. It's likely he'll know what we're doing before we even do it so we have to be extremely careful about how we go about this."

"It seems to me the best course of action is to have a good defense." said Kait. "If he's got a tremendous amount of energy to use offensively, we should probably pool our energy in a defensive posture. With any luck he won't be able to get at us that way."

"We're also going to need to cloak ourselves so we can go undetected." said Jack. "Which is a bloody problem as right now Mark and Kait are the only one's who can fucking do that."

"Well then, I reckon you're gonna have to learn how, aren't you?" said Kait, staring at Jack with a twisted look of superiority on her face.

"And how the fuck am I supposed to do that on such short fucking notice?" Jack asked.

"Do what Arkady does and dig around inside your head for the controls." Kait replied.

Jack sighed. "Fuck, this is going to be so bloody fun." he muttered.

Meanwhile, while the others searched for answers, Miki sat alone in her clinic her head in her hands. Her mind raced, trying to catch up with everything that happened in the last few hours. She could not comprehend the magnitude of it all. Arkady's mystery man was real, he had revealed himself, Arkady and Kirk had disappeared, and the others didn't seem to care. It was this last bit which Miki was struggling with the most. How could they not want to find Kirk and Arkady? Were they really that heartless that they would not even try? Miki expected that kind of attitude from Luke and Mark, but from Connor and Sirkka, that just didn't add up. Maybe they were just in denial, yes that had to be it, the others were denial about the seriousness of the situation and were still too deep in shock to think straight. Well, if that was the case, then Miki would just have to force them to listen to her, she was a doctor after all.

Miki stood, smiling to herself as she did. She moved to head back to the Freakcave, when she sensed something unusual. Her curiosity peaked, Miki made her way outside, her eyes widening in horror at what she found. Standing a short distance from her clinic was Alister Cain, flanked by what appeared to be an army.

"Shit." Miki muttered. "Mass call, this is Miki. Alister's back and from the look of things he's brought some friends. Are you guys listening?"

_"Miki, what's that about Alister?"_ Caz asked.

"The bastard's back and he's got a fucking army." Miki said, almost screaming. The silence that followed was deafening, but it confirmed what Miki hoped. The others had gotten her message and were on their way.


	10. The Hoards of Lambeth Road

The others arrived at Miki's clinic minutes later, their shock evident on all their faces. None of them had expected Alister to return this soon after his first attack and they certainly weren't prepared for him bringing an army. But, prepared or not they had little choice now, Alister was here and he had an army so it was either fight or abandon Whitechapel in its hour of greatest need.

"Well fuck me." Luke muttered, staring at the army gathered around Alister. "Where the fuck did he find so many fucking people?"

"Lambeth Road, by the look of things." said Karl, glancing at KK who was staring in wide eyed horror at Alister's soldiers. It was a poorly concealed secret that KK's favorite place to go for sex was Lambeth Road, a poor choice by the other's estimation as the people who lived there were not exactly human anymore. Something had happened to Lambeth Road after the crash and the people had become something less than human, half human at best.

"This-this is just not bloody acceptable." KK muttered, now positively shaking with rage.

"Oh come on KK, it's not like their people anyway." said Karl. "You just fuck them because you like weird fetishes and shit."

KK glared at him. "Not helping, you prick." she snapped. Karl grinned, he loved teasing KK about her attraction to Lambeth boys.

"Alright, that's enough you two." said Connor. "We've got more important things to deal with at the moment." He glanced over at Alister, who hadn't moved an inch since Miki had spotted him. He simply stood and stared at them, as if he was pondering what to do.

"What the fuck is he doing over there?" Jack asked, staring at Alister.

"Probably waiting for us to make the first move." said Luke. "Yeah right, like we're that fucking stupid."

"No, he's not waiting." said Kait, her gaze focused intently on Alister's. "He's trying to read our minds...and he's succeeding."

"WHAT?" Karl shouted. "He's been reading our minds this whole time and we didn't notice? How is that even possible?"

"Well, his control of the package is much greater than ours." said Kait, not looking at Karl.

"How did you figure it out then?" Caz asked, glancing at Kait.

"I've been watching him." Kait replied. "One of the great things about being a cop is, you get really good at reading people's faces. It took me a few minutes, but I figured out by his facial expressions what he was doing."

"Ha, very good Kaitlyn." Alister called. "It seems my expanded package is not impervious to good detective work."

"It seems not." Kait replied. "What do you want from us Alister?"

"Come now Kaitlyn, you were doing so well." Alister replied. "Surely you have already figured that one out."

Kait nodded. "You're here to kill us, yeah?" she asked. "If that's so, then why did you make Kirk and Arkady disappear?"

"I have my reasons." Alister answered. "You may find out in time, if you're lucky."

"Where are they, Kirk and Arkady?" KK asked. "Where did you send them?"

Alister grinned. "That is not something you need to concern yourself with at the moment Kolfinnia Kokokoho."

KK's eyes widened, while the others all looked at her in shock. It was common knowledge that you only called KK by her full name if you were looking to get your ass kicked. Apparently Alister was unaware of this fact or he was luring her into a trap.

"Do you want me to kill you?" KK asked, glaring at Alister.

"Come now KK don't be so childish." said Alister, his grin getting bigger. "It's only a name. A quite beautiful name I may add, Kolfinnia Kokokoho. It has such grace, you should be proud to have such an elegant name."

"You'll be wanting to shut up now." KK growled through clenched teeth.

"And what, exactly will you do to me if I don't?" Alister asked, his tone mocking.

"This." KK growled as she lunged, her eyes lighting up.

"KK, NO! IT'S A TRAP!" Kait shouted, but it was too late, KK had already moved and Alister was ready for her. Before she could even attempt to implement her attack he had hit her full on the chest with a blast energy, sending her flying backwards. KK slammed into the building behind the others, exploding through the wall with such force that they felt the tremor of the shock wave.

"KK!" Miki screamed, rushing to KK's side. KK lay amongst the rubble, blood streaming from her nose and multiple gashes and scrapes. Miki knelt next to her, checking her vitals. KK was still breathing and her heart still beat, but she was in bad shape.

"KK?" Miki asked. "KK, can you hear me?"

KK groaned. "God that fucking hurts." she muttered. "I swear to God I'm going to kill that fucking bastard." She tried to sit, a sharp pain in her spine stopping her. She grunted and coughed up blood, Miki pushing her back down so she didn't injure herself further.

"Is she okay?" Mark asked, appearing next to Miki.

"She's pretty fucked up." Miki replied, not looking at Mark. "What's going on with Alister?"

"He hasn't moved since KK attacked him." Mark replied. "I think he's letting us take care of her before he tries anything else."

Miki nodded. "Okay, we need to-", her sentence was cut short by a crash behind them. Miki and Mark turned to see Alister's Lambeth hoards descending upon the others.

"Shit." Mark muttered. "You stay here with KK and let the rest of us deal with this. And don't you dare let her bloody die." With that Mark charged back outside to engage the enemy, leaving Miki and KK to watch from the sidelines.

As the hoards descended upon them, it became apparent to the FreakAngels just how many people Alister was controlling. At least a hundred individuals were under his direct control, a number beyond any of them had ever believed possible. The most minds any of them had controlled at once was the fifty Mark had been running that almost got him kicked out of Whitechapel. This was fight unlike any they had ever been in before and they were down four, which only made matters worse.

"Fuck, there's too many of these bastards." Jack shouted. "How're we supposed to beat them all back."

"We need to get the big guns working." said Caz. "Spray the fuckers with those."

"Caz, Sirkka get to the guns, we'll cover you." said Mark. "And Connor, get Alice a weapon for God's sake, before she gets torn apart."

Caz nodded and she and Sirkka headed for their giant steam cannons, Connor and Alice heading for his place to gather her shotgun. Mark, Jack, Luke, Kait, and Karl did their best to fight off the hoards, but they could tell that unless they got the guns going, they were fighting a losing battle.

Connor and Alice arrived at his house minutes later, winded but determined to get back to the fight before the others were consumed. They entered the house, Alice searching frantically for her shotgun. "Shotgun. Where's me fooking shotgun?" she asked.

"In the back." Connor replied, moving to gather the extra shells as Alice entered the back room to retrieve her gun. Alice reentered the front room, gun in hand.

"Ready to go?" she asked, looking at Connor.

Connor nodded and handed her the extra shells before turning to leave. "Caz, Sirkka, you got the guns going yet?" he asked, as they headed back towards the battle.

_"Mine's good to go."_ Caz replied.

_"We're good over here too."_ Sirkka answered. _"Ready to open up whenever you are Caz."_

Back at the main battle site, the others had made some headway against the hoards, but they were still outnumbered. "Get ready to fire." Mark shouted. "We're almost at the guns."

_"Roger that Mark."_ Caz replied. _"Ready and waiting."_

Moments later, the hoards burst into view and Caz let loose the power of KK's steam technology, the darts tearing Alister's soldiers apart. Hot on their heels came the others, who had been rejoined by Connor and Alice. Several of Alister's soldiers turned to face them, one of them catching a shotgun blast in the face.

"Ha, eat that yer fooking bastard!" Alice shouted, grinning at her handiwork.

The Lambeth soldiers who survived Caz's gun tried to escape, but were quickly herded into range of Sirkka's, where they too were torn to shreds.

Sensing that the battle was lost Alister and the few remaining Lambeth soldiers decided to hightail it out of Whitechapel. "Until next time." Alister said, before teleporting out in a bright flash of light.

"Ha, that's right, run you fooking arsehole!" Alice shouted. "You talk a big game, but you can't handle the FreakAngels."

The others laughed at her comments, Connor smiling at her, appreciative of her enthusiasm, despite her lack of psychic abilities. They had survived another challenge from Alister and the relief was astounding. Granted there was still the issue of finding Kirk and Arkady to deal with, but given the circumstances they could afford a couple of minutes of celebrating.

"You know, I almost feel sorry for what we just did." said Karl. "Now KK doesn't have anywhere to go for sex."

"Speaking of KK, Miki how's she doing?" Mark asked. For a moment there was silence, as Miki did not immediately answer.

"Miki?" Connor asked. "Is everything okay?"

_"Guys."_ Miki finally answered, her voice choked and hollow. _"KK's dead."_

**A/N: And there's chapter 10. If you've read the comic, you may be surprised by some of things I've done. If you haven't, well, I guess you won't be surprised then, will you? Uh...not much else to say at this juncture, other than I hope you've enjoyed the story so far and please leave reviews. All of my other fics have reviews, this one needs them too.**


	11. Wasteland, pt1

Kirk snapped awake, bright flashes of light popping before his eyes as he did. He gasped as a flood of pain shot through his head and down his spine. For a moment he sat in total disorientation, unaware of his surroundings. But as the shock dissipated he noticed he was in a swampy field he had never seen before. This place was obviously not Whitechapel and Kirk was pretty sure it wasn't Shoreditch Park either. But if that was true then where was he and how had he gotten there?

Kirk shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts and remember what he had been doing before waking up in this field. As he stared at the twisted clumps of grass trying to remember, a sudden flood of memories rushed through his mind. He had been on the tower with Connor and Alice, Alister had shown up and brought the tower down, Arkady had teleported up to catch him and then Alister had done something to them, something involving the package. It was at that moment that he spotted Arkady, who lay face down in a shallow pool of water.

"Shit, Arkady!" Kirk shouted, scrambling towards her and yanking her out of the water. She was unconscious and not breathing, her body limp in his arms. Kirk had no idea how long they had been there before he had woken, and if Arkady had been in the water the whole time...

Kirk shook his head, he did not want to think about that. He lay Arkady on the ground and began CPR, but she did not respond. "Come on Kady, goddamn it." Kirk growled. "Don't you do this to me. You've cheated death before, do it again."

At that moment Arkady gave a choking gasp, coughing up water, and sat up, her eyes meeting his. "Kirk?" she asked, her voice shaky and horse.

"Yeah, I'm here." Kirk said, holding Arkady close. "Though I'm not rightly sure where here is." He glanced around at their surroundings, still unable to determine exactly where they were. "It's definitely not Whitechapel though, that's for bloody sure."

Arkady pulled herself free of Kirk's grasp and glanced around. "I think we're somewhere in the wasteland." she said, after a moment.

"How the fuck did we get out in the fucking wasteland?" Kirk asked, staring at Arkady.

"Alister sent us here." Arkady replied, glancing at him.

"Sent us?" Kirk asked. "He sent us? How the bloody hell did he do that?"

"Remote teleportation." Arkady replied casually, as if it wasn't a serious issue.

"Shit." Kirk growled. "Well it looks like you were right, that bastard's control of the package is definitely greater than our own." He stared at Arkady with a look of disgust and frustration, almost as if he was blaming her for what had happened.

"I didn't want to be right." Arkady replied. "I hoped I wasn't, but I have no control over what I see."

Kirk looked at her, his expression softening. "Yeah, I know it's not your fault Kady." he muttered. "It just sucks knowing that he can do shit like that. It's really unnerving actually, to think about all that we've done with the package and then realize that he can do it by himself."

Arkady smiled. "C'mon, cheer up Kirk." she said. "It's not all bad, at least Alister's not here with us." She looked at him, the expression on her face like that of a child who had just said something really smart.

Kirk looked at her for a moment, before he smiled too. "You're just like Connor." he muttered. "Nothing can make you feel like shit, can it Arkady?"

Arkady's expression changed abruptly at these words, her brow furrowing in worry. "There is one thing that scares me." she muttered. She looked at Kirk before continuing. "This Alister guy, he scares me more than anything ever has. His power is so much greater than ours and I'm afraid...I'm afraid...Kirk I think he's gonna kill us. I've seen things, flashes in my dreams and in all of them someone is dead. Sometimes it's KK, sometimes it's Karl, or Miki, or Alice, or Connor, or..." She trailed off as tears began to fall.

Kirk pulled Arkady into his arms, holding her tightly to comfort her. "Kady, don't worry." he said. "Nothing bad is going to happen, we'll stop Alister and everything will go back to normal."

"No, Kirk, don't you understand?" Arkady asked, her voice wavering. "He's not like us, he's cruel and ruthless and mean. He doesn't want to use his abilities to help people like we do, he just wants to destroy and kill. And he's too powerful, how're we supposed to-" Kirk held up a hand to silence her.

"No Arkady, we will win." Kirk said. "Alister may have more power than each of us individually, but together there isn't anything we can't bloody do. We proved that six years ago. If we act as one, we are unstoppable and we have you. You're worth a hundred Alister's and even if that bastard is more powerful than you, he can't hold a candle to you in terms of everything else you possess."

Arkady smiled, comforted by Kirk's words. "Thank you for that Kirk." she said, wiping her tears away as she spoke.

"Any time." Kirk replied. "Now what say we get the fuck out of here." Arkady nodded and they got to their feet, both of them scanning the area for any hint of where they were. Unfortunately, nothing looked familiar, though that may have been due in part to the devastation caused by the crash. Based on the rough geography, Kirk guessed they were probably up north somewhere, but exactly where up north he could not tell. He glanced at Arkady, who shook her head. Obviously she was no more certain of their location than he was.

"Fuck!" Kirk shouted. "The next time I see that fucking prick I'm gonna drive a fucking railroad spike through his fucking brain."

"Unless the others kill him first." said Arkady, with a smile.

Kirk glanced at her. "Well you certainly cheered up quick." he muttered. "And I don't think the others will kill him before we get back, he'd have to attack again first. I doubt they'd go hunting for him, unless Kait somehow convinced them."

Arkady looked at him, but did not respond. Kirk didn't know it, but while they had been unconscious, Arkady had seen Alister's second attack, or at least some of it. She wasn't sure how it had ended, or if it even had.

"Anyway, let's get going." Kirk muttered. "We've got a long walk ahead of us, unless you can teleport us?" He looked at Arkady, hopeful.

"Sorry Kirk." said Arkady. "I've got no push at the moment. I think Alister did something that temporarily shut off our Package." Kirk rolled his eyes, his level of annoyance rising even higher.

Everything about this situation pissed him off, except for Arkady. But being stuck somewhere up north with no idea of where and knowing that it was because of Alister was making Kirk's blood boil. He was most annoyed by their inability to use the Package to solve the whole fucking mess, and he would not speak again for hours.

After several hours of walking in silence, Kirk and Arkady finally came across something they recognized. Ahead of them, looming out of the mist were the flooded out ruins of Manchester.

"Well, now we bloody know where the fuck we are." Kirk growled.

Arkady nodded. "So this is what Alice lived in before she came to us." Arkady mused, staring at what was left of Manchester. "It really is as bad as she said it is."

"I never thought that it wasn't." Kirk muttered. "Come on, let's see if we can find something to eat, I'm actually fucking hungry for once." Arkady nodded again and they made their way into the city, keeping their eyes peeled for any signs of life.

Moments later, they came across a sealed crate that looked like it came from a food distribution center. Kirk smiled at their luck and knelt to open the crate, drawing a knife as he did. No sooner had gotten down when they heard the click of a shotgun being cocked.

"Shit." Kirk muttered, as he stood, raising his hands. Arkady followed suit and together they turned to face their newest obstacle.


	12. Wasteland, pt2

Kirk and Arkady found themselves face to face with a burley looking man with red hair and a massive, bushy beard. Flanking him were a slightly taller, skinny man with shaggy black hair and a short woman with long braided hair and brilliant green eyes. All three of them were armed to the teeth and looked ready to kill.

"And just who the fook are you two?" the red headed man asked, pointing his shotgun at Kirk's head.

Kirk stared at the man, relatively certain he did not want to answer. However, against his better judgment, Kirk answered anyway. "I'm Kirk, and that's Arkady." he said, nodding at Arkady. "We're with the FreakAngels clan out of Whitechapel."

"Oh are ye now?" the read headed man asked. "Well that certainly makes this interesting, now doesn't it?"

Kirk did not respond. He was not sure what this man was playing at, but he was sure he didn't want to know. There was something off about these three and though Kirk wasn't sure what it was, he was sure they meant nothing but trouble for him and Arkady.

Arkady, on the other hand, seemed completely oblivious to the strange vibe. Indeed, she seemed more intrigued by these three than put off. She stared at the three of them, trying to figure them out without reading their minds but her attempts were proving unsuccessful. Finally, overcome by her curiosity, Arkady casually stepped towards the three reaching out for them like a child reaching for a toy.

"Arkady!" Kirk hissed, moving to grab her before she got herself hurt. Instantly, three guns rose to meet his face, stopping him dead.

"Whoa there laddie. What the fook do ye think yer doin'?" the red headed man asked. Kirk glared at the man and did not answer, out of fear he might shoot Arkady.

Arkady ignored this exchange and casually placed her hand on the barrel of the man's shotgun, pushing it down so it aimed at the ground. She then looked the man directly in the eye and asked, in barely more than a whisper, "Do you know Alice?"

The man looked at her, slightly taken aback by her question. "Alice?" he asked. "You mean Alice Mahoney?" Arkady nodded. "Yeah, I know her. I ran guns with her brothers, till they was killed. That was weeks ago, I haven't seen Alice since."

"That's because she's been living with us, in Whitechapel." Arkady said, with a smile.

"Oh, has she now?" the red headed man asked. "Well, why didn't ye say so, coulda saved us a arseload of time."

"Oh, right, cuz we were supposed to know that while we were sitting here with your fucking guns pointed at our heads." Kirk muttered.

"Ah shut yer trap, ye fooking knobend." the red headed man muttered, rolling his eyes.

Kirk opened his mouth to say something, but a look from Arkady made him stop. He glanced at her before casting a dark look at their new companions. Arkady ignored him and turned her attention back to the three.

"So, what're your names?" she asked, glancing at each of them in turn.

"Well, my name's Seamus O'Connell." the red headed man said, grinning at Arkady. "This here is Liam Wentworth." he said, gesturing at the thin man on his right. "And this lovely lass is Molly Dawson." He gestured at the woman on his left.

"It's nice to meet you both." Arkady said, smiling. Liam and Molly both nodded and Seamus grinned again, apparently happy to have some new friends. Kirk simply stared at the others, not amused at all by the way this encounter was going.

"Say hello Kirk." Arkady said, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye.

Kirk sighed. "Alright, it's nice to meet you." he muttered, not looking at the others.

"Aye, nice to meet you too." Seamus said, glancing from Kirk to Arkady. "Not a very friendly bugger, is he?"

"Oh Kirk's just a bit put off, you know." said Arkady. "You aren't like other people we've met from outside of Whitechapel and I think that bothers him. He really is a nice guy, you just gotta give him a bit."

"Fair enough." Seamus said, nodding. "Well, come on then, let's get going. We got a place 'round the corner from here an' you two look like you could use some food."

Arkady nodded and they set off, arriving at Seamus' place, an old run down mill, minutes later. "Well this is it, me home." said Seamus proudly. "There's 'round six of us living here, you'll meet the others once we're inside."

They entered the building to find three other people waiting inside, who all looked up as the group entered. "Get up and say hello, we got guests tonight." Seamus bellowed, setting his shotgun down by the door. The other three stood and shook hands with Kirk and Arkady, all of them surprised to see people with such pale skin and violet eyes. Seamus introduced the others, John, a tall, muscular man who had worked for the railroad before the crash; Lizette, a highly spiritual black woman; and Jane, a shy and silent young girl. After the introductions were made, Seamus and his little adopted family set about making dinner, while Arkady and Kirk sat in silence, patiently waiting.

"So this Alister bloke just showed up at your place and tore your fucking tower down?" Liam asked, several hours later.

"Yeah, and then he just blinked me and Kady up here." said Kirk. "No idea how he did it."

"Seems like your package is a pretty raw deal to me." John muttered.

"Yeah, well nothing can be done about it." Kirk muttered. "We were born like this and if there was a way to get rid of it, we would have by now."

"Well, some of us would have." said Arkady. "Lord knows, I would keep mine." Kirk nodded and smiled. He had finally accepted that these people were not going to hurt them and was much more relaxed than he had been several hours earlier. They had been trading stories for hours, mostly listening to Kirk and Arkady explain things about the FreakAngels and how the Package worked. Liam and Molly were particularly intrigued by the idea that there were people who could do things just by thinking about them. The conversation lasted long into the night, before everyone finally passed out.

The next morning, after eating some breakfast Kirk and Arkady set off to continue their journey home. They still hadn't regained full control of the Package, so Arkady was unable to teleport, but it didn't matter. They had made it to Manchester just fine by walking and they would make it to Whitechapel that way too.

"Well, it was nice meeting yer." Seamus said, as he saw them off. "Give Alice my best, would ya?"

"Will do." Kirk said, nodding. With that, he and Arkady set off, heading back to a home they had not seen in days. Unknown to them, they would be returning to a home scarred by the ravages of war and the sorrow of losing someone they loved.

**A/N: Again, as with everything else, sorry for the wait. Lack of internet and all that shit. Also, I want to say, if you haven't started reading the actual FreakAngels comic, you really should. It's getting really fucking interesting.**


	13. Gone Forever

As Kirk and Arkady made their way home, the others sat in silence, still in shock following Alister's second visit. They had moved KK's body to the Freakcave where they were now gathered, too stunned to do anything else. None of them had spoken since receiving Miki's news and a deathly silence had fallen over Whitechapel. All of them simply sat, staring at nothing in particular. Alice had taken to cleaning her shotgun, but this was not enough of a distraction and she kept glancing at KK's lifeless form. Connor simply stared at his notebook, not wanting to write the words he knew he must. Jack held a silently sobbing Sirkka in his arms, stroking her hair as he stared blankly at the wall. Caz, Kait, Karl, and Luke just stared at one another. Mark stood at the top of the stairs, staring out at nothing in particular. And Miki sat staring at KK's cold, lifeless face, almost catatonic in her shock.

"How?" Miki asked, the sound of her voice bringing the others out of their reveries. "How did this happen? How can KK be dead?"

The others looked at her, but none of them had an answer for her questions. They were all as confused as she was as to how one of their number could be gone.

"My fault." Miki muttered, after a moment of silence. "It's my fault she's dead."

"Miki don't say that." said Caz. "It's not your fault, you did everything you could for her."

Miki stared at Caz as though she didn't believe her. "Miki don't look at Caz like that." said Connor. "You can't blame-" Miki glared at him, making him stop short.

"But it is my fault." she shouted, tears now streaming down her face. "It is my fault, I was there and I wasn't able to save her. Even with all the fucking medical knowledge I have crammed in my head, I wasn't able to save her."

"Miki, you can't blame yourself." said Karl. "You weren't the one who threw her trough a bloody wall. It was Alister who did that, and even with your knowledge, how were you supposed to deal with her injuries?"

Miki stared at him, not sure how to respond. "I still should have been able to do something though." she said, after a brief pause.

"We all should have done something Miki." said Kait. "If anyone here is to blame for her death, it's me. I saw what Alister was doing and I didn't stop her from attacking him."

"You tried though." said Luke. "KK just didn't listen to you, like she always fucking did."

"Don't you dare blame this on her you fucking prick!" Miki shouted. "It's not KK's fault she's dead. All she was trying to do was protect us and now she's gone forever."

"No, please don't say that." Sirkka pleaded, staring at Miki. "She can come back, Arkady did. If Kady can die and return, surely KK can." The others stared at her, unsure how to respond. It was true, Arkady had technically died only days earlier, and she had come back. But there was no way that could happen again, it was a miracle it had even happened once.

"I think Arkady was a special case Sirkka." said Karl, not looking at any of them. "I don't think we can get that lucky again."

Sirkka did not respond, she simply buried her face in Jack's chest again to cry some more. Jack glanced at her before looking at the others. "So, where do we go from here?" he asked.

"We hunt that bastard down and we drive a fucking spike through his brain." Mark said, as he came down the stairs to join the conversation.

"Are you sure that's the best idea?" Luke asked. "I mean, I want the fucker to die too, but hunting him down may not be the best idea. I mean, look what he did to KK. It seems to me that we don't really have much of a chance against this bloke."

"So, what, we just ignore what he did to KK and let him continue to pick us off?" Mark asked. "Is that what you want Luke? Because that's what'll fucking happen if we don't kill him first."

Luke opened his mouth to answer, but Kait beat him to the punch. "I think killing him is a bloody spectacular idea myself." she said. "That said, there are a few things to consider, namely the fact that we're still missing Kirk and Arkady. If we're going to have a chance of killing Alister, we're going to need as many of us as possible, and right now we're not at full capacity."

"But we're never going to be anyway." Mark argued. "Even if we get Kirk and Arkady back, we're still never gonna have KK, so why does it fucking matter when we go after the bastard?"

"Look, we'll put it to a vote." said Kait. "All those in favor of going after Alister now raise your hands." Mark, Alice, and Karl raised their hands. "Okay, and those who want to wait until we have Kirk and Arkady back." Kait continued. She, Jack, Sirkka, Miki, Caz, Luke, and Connor raised their hands.

"Well that settles that." said Kait. "Sorry Mark, majority rules." Mark glared at her, but did not argue the matter further.

"Okay, so the next step is to find Kirk and Arkady." said Connor, glancing at Kait as though she had an idea. "The only problem is where to start."

"I say we fan out as far as we can get on foot, and just keep looking until we find them." said Kait.

"And what it they're not in Britain anymore?" Mark asked, giving her a skeptical look.

"Well, then I guess we'll have to go after Alister without them, won't we?" Kait snapped. Mark nodded and they set out to find their missing friends, Miki laying a blanket over KK's body before they left.

At that same moment, Kirk and Arkady arrived on the outskirts of Whitechapel, unaware that the others were looking for them. They looked at one another and smiled, glad to be home, but as they stepped into the town they felt the oppressive silence, making them both stop. Something wasn't right here and neither of them was sure they wanted to know what. Regardless, Kirk was sure they would find out soon enough.


	14. A Welcome Return

Kirk and Arkady stood in silence for a moment, both of them listening for any signs of life. But Whitechapel seemed to be completely dead, as if all the life had been sucked out of the town at once. It was not the homecoming either of them had expected, far from it in fact. Kirk had expected to be greeted by the joyous faces of the others or at least some of them, not the oppressive silence that met him now. It was unnerving to receive such an unexpected welcome home, could Alister have really killed everyone in their absence? It seemed unlikely, but given what Alister had done already, Kirk was certain it was possible.

"Where is everyone?" Arkady asked, glancing at Kirk, the look on her face one of suppressed terror.

"I have no idea Kady." Kirk replied, trying his best to keep his voice calm. He glanced around for a moment and sighed. "Well, it's obvious we're not get answers this way so let's do it the easy way. Mass call, this is Kirk. We're back, where the fuck are you guys?"

_"Kirk?"_ Karl's voice asked after a moment of silence. _"Kirk, is that really you?"_

"No Karl, it's fucking Santa Claus." Kirk snapped. "Of course it's me. And I got Arkady with me too. Where the bloody hell is everyone?"

_"We're out fucking looking for you, you sodding knobend."_ Luke chimed in.

"Great to see you again too, Luke." Kirk muttered, as Luke, Karl, Kait, and Miki suddenly appeared down the street. Kirk grinned and Arkady waved, both of them happy to see their friends. Arkady rushed forward and embraced Karl, tears flowing down her cheeks. Luke clapped hands with Kirk, looking him in the eye.

"It's good to have you back Kirk." Luke said, a smile on his face.

_"Hey, what the fuck is going on over there?" _Mark's voice asked. _"It sounds like you're setting up for a party, I thought we were supposed to be looking for Kirk and Arkady."_

"You can stop looking, we found them." Miki replied. For a moment there was nothing and then they heard the sound of someone running. A moment later, Mark appeared, followed by Caz, Alice, Connor, Jack, and Sirkka.

"Well fuck me backwards." said Caz, a smile on her face. "So much for the prolonged search."

"Don't sound so disappointed Caz." said Alice. "Or did ye want to go roaming all over the fooking countryside looking for them?"

"No, not really." said Caz. "It would have made for a nice change of scenery though."

"Well, sorry we stole your chance for a holiday." said Kirk, grinning.

"It doesn't matter Kirk." said Caz. "All I really wanted was to find you two anyway."

"So what exactly happened to you guys anyway?" Connor asked. "Alister made that bubble of energy around you and you disappeared, but what happened after that? Where did you end up?"

"We woke up in a field up north somewhere." Kirk replied. "I think we may have been in fucking Scotland, cuz we made it to Manchester and we'd been walking for several hours."

"Why didn't Arkady just teleport you?" Sirkka asked, looking from Kirk to Arkady.

"I wasn't able to." Arkady replied. "It seems Alister shut off our access to the Package, at least for the time being."

"Well, that's just bloody terrific." said Connor, with a sigh. "Is there anything that bastard can't do?" Nobody answered him, as he was far from the only one who was wondering what the extent of Alister's Package was.

"Yeah, it's like something out of a fucking fairytale." Kirk muttered. "A really bad fairytale where the evil dragon eats the fucking hero and then turns into a man and rapes the captive princess."

"Wow Kirk, that was a bit more descriptive than we needed, thanks." said Luke.

Kirk shrugged and turned towards Alice. "By the way, when we in Manchester, we met a bloke who says he knows you."

"Oh yeah?" Alice asked, eying Kirk with a hint of suspicion.

"Yeah." said Kirk. "A big, burley bloke by the name of Seamus O'Connell, said he worked with your brothers."

"Seamus?" Alice asked. "You met Seamus? He's still alive?"

"Well, he certainly wasn't a corpse." Kirk replied, confused by Alice's question.

"I thought he was killed months ago." said Alice, tears in her eyes. "I always liked Seamus, he were a funny bastard, always cracking jokes an' tellin' stories. I had no idea he was still alive."

"Well, I can assure you, he's very much alive and he wanted me to let you know he wishes you the best." said Kirk.

"Well, it sounds like two had quite an adventure in the wasteland." said Mark. "But I'm glad you're back. Let's head to the Freakcave and you can tell us more."

Kirk nodded and they turned to leave. It was at that moment that Kirk noticed there was one missing from their number. "Hold on," he said, "where's KK?"

The others froze at his words, their smiles disappearing. Kirk and Arkady both noticed the instant shift in the emotional climate. The oppressive silence that had evaporated at the sight of their friends was back and it was obvious something was not right. Kirk looked at each of them for a moment, trying to find the answer in their eyes, but none of them betrayed a hint of an answer.

"Alright, what happened?" Kirk asked, his level of annoyance beginning to rise.

"Kirk." Caz began. "KK's dead. Alister attacked again and he killed her."

"WHAT?" Kirk shouted, his eyes widening in horror. "No, that can't be true, why would you fucking say something like that Caz? KK's not dead, she's just hiding somewhere, waiting to play a prank on us or something."

"Kirk, it's true." said Arkady. "Caz isn't lying to us, KK is gone. I can see it in their minds, Alister threw her through a wall and she died in Miki's arms."

Kirk looked at Arkady, ready to argue, but he could see the truth in her eyes. KK was gone and he hadn't been there to help her. Kirk stared at the others a moment before sinking to the ground in despair, the reality of the situation overtaking him. Alister had done what he had feared and suddenly the world felt like it was collapsing around him.


	15. In Memoriam

Hours later Kirk found himself alone in the Freakcave, staring at KK's cold, lifeless body. He still could not believe she was dead, there was just no way it could be true. But, Kirk knew it was. KK was gone, the proof was right in front of him. He had always known this moment would come, but he had never given much thought to how he would feel when it did. At that moment however, he did not know what to feel, other than burning hatred and overwhelming sadness.

For their part, the others chose to give Kirk his space, letting him mourn in solitude. None of them had known just how much he had cared for KK. The signs had been there, there was no denying that, but none of them had picked up on just how deep the connection ran. It was something none of them had ever had a reason to think about before, as neither Kirk nor KK had ever seemed to be interested in that kind of relationship. But now that there was no chance of that relationship ever blossoming it was quite obvious that they had been interested in that kind of relationship.

"So Kirk and KK, huh?" said Luke, sometime late that night. "How the bloody hell did we not pick up on that? I mean, we're fucking psychics, shouldn't we have been able to tune in to that?"

"You would think we would, but sometimes I wonder if the package is that simple." said Mark, glancing at Luke.

"What do you mean?" Luke asked, cocking an eyebrow in speculation.

"Well, and this could be pure bullshit for all know, but it seems to me that if we have the ability to enter other minds and shield our own, than we should have some way of keeping our deepest, darkest thoughts sealed even when we're not actively shielding?" Mark replied.

"You think the reason none of us picked up on Kirk and KK's relationship is because they were actively keeping hidden from us?" Connor asked, with a confused look. "How does that even make sense Mark?"

"How does any of this make any bloody sense?" Mark asked. "We've been living with the package for our entire lives, and we still don't know the limits. Add on top of that what we've learned in recent days and what just happened with KK and we've got a giant clusterfuck of not making sense."

"Yeah, but how would it be possible for us to keep just a small portion of our thoughts secret?" Connor asked.

"I don't know Connor." Mark replied, shaking his head. He stared at the floor for a moment before glancing at Arkady, as if expecting her to chime in with some sort of explanation. But Arkady was silent, she was just as perplexed as the others. But it was not their current questions Arkady was thinking about at the moment, there was someone else on her mind.

"Something on your mind Kady?" Mark asked, noticing the look of concern on her face.

"It's Kirk." Arkady replied. "He's been alone for almost twelve hours now. Someone should go talk to him, make sure he's okay."

"I'll go." said Miki, getting to feet. "I was with KK when she died, I think I can relate to what he's feeling at the moment." Truthfully they all could relate to what Kirk was feeling at the moment, but as none of them wanted to argue the others let Miki go without response.

Miki made her way to the Freakcave, the oppressive cloud of sorrow growing thicker the closer she got. It was almost as though Kirk was projecting his sorrow out into the world like a poisonous fume, and for a moment Miki thought about turning back, but she swallowed her fear and made her way inside.

Kirk sat with his head in his hands, his eyes focused on KK's face. He did not seemed to have moved in hours and his eyes were bloodshot from the tears. "Kirk?" Miki asked tentatively. "How are you doing?"

Kirk turned his empty stare towards her and blinked twice, focusing on her face. "How the bloody hell do you think I'm fucking doing?" he asked, his voice horse.

Miki did not answer. It was obvious that Kirk was in pain and she wished she had not asked the question. She stared at him a moment and then moved to sit beside him. Kirk glanced at her again, but said nothing. The coldness with which he greeted her made Miki wish she hadn't come to see him.

"So why did you?" Kirk asked, glancing at her for a third time. "If my sorrow is too much for you, why the fuck are you here Miki?"

"Arkady thought you shouldn't be alone." Miki replied. It was silent for a moment and then Miki continued. "I volunteered to come because I was with KK when-" A sharp glance from Kirk cut her short and she looked away.

"I don't blame you Miki." Kirk said, after another beat. "I know you did everything you could to keep her alive and I know why she-" He paused and glanced at KK's body before continuing. "I know why she died. I pulled the images out of Kait's head and I know what he did to get her riled up. It's so like KK to do that too, just charge in when it was obviously a fucking trap."

"Yeah, KK could be a bit of a hot-head at times." Miki agreed. "She was even worse when she got alcohol in her. You remember that time she got shit-faced and tried to burn Kait's cop videos?"

Kirk chuckled. "Yeah, and Kait threatened to chain her up and beat her with a stick."

"Well, she would have deserved it." Kait muttered as she entered the room, followed by the others. Arkady smiled and sat down on Kirk's other side, her eyes flashing to KK for a half second.

"Anyone remember the time KK tricked the headmaster into letting school out early?" Jack asked, glancing around the room to chuckles from the others.

"Yeah, I will be forever grateful to her for that too." said Caz. "Got me out of a bloody hard math exam that I hadn't studied for."

"Yeah, and it gave Jack and Sirkka time to start in on the shagging early." Mark laughed.

"Shut up you wanker." Jack muttered, slugging Mark in the shoulder.

"Yeah, KK was always good for a laugh." said Luke. "But she was much more than that. She was our leader, our rock, the one who got us through all the tough scrapes we got into as kids. I didn't always see eye to eye with her, but I will say that without KK we wouldn't be here today and I want to take a moment to remember that."

"Well said mate." said Mark, with a nod at Luke. For a moment they were silent and then, one by one they left the Freakcave, Kirk sealing it up as he exited. For so long this place had been their meeting place, now it would serve a different purpose. It would be the place where they lay KK to rest.

**A/N: Okay, so there's chapter 15. Sorry for the wait, didn't have this written last time I updated. Also, I know I promised then that I would stick to a better schedual of updating and I havn't really done that, so I apologize for that too. With any luck I WILL start updating on a regular basis again. You just gotta give me some time to figure out how.**


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